Point-of-care detection, characterization, and removal of chocolate bloom using a handheld Raman spectrometer

Chocolate bloom is an off-white coating on the surface of chocolate products due to the altered distribution of the ingredients. Bloom reduces the shelf-life of chocolate and affects its visual and tactile quality, all of which are serious concerns for chocolate manufacturers and consumers. The automated, rapid, and noninvasive point-of-care detection of chocolate bloom has been an essential but challenging problem. The ability to detect and characterize chocolate bloom using portable laser spectroscopy could be used to develop in-situ quality control sensors. In this work, a handheld Raman spectrometer was used to detect chocolate bloom. Raman spectra acquired from bloomed HERSHEY'S milk chocolate, Hawaiian Host milk chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and Babayevsky Russian dark chocolate were used to characterize the type of bloom. The 1064 nm laser beam of the handheld Raman instrument was used to partially remove the fat bloom of the dark chocolate and to induce sugar bloom on the milk chocolate. The handheld Raman approach has a high potential for industrial and consumer applications for the on-site chemical analysis of chocolate bloom and as an alternative laser-based chocolate decoration.